Zechariah 3 - Part 2

0:58It is a time of small things. The city is small. There's no walls. The temple, even after it gets built, is not stunning like it used to be. There's not a lot of people in the city, but still, God is there with them. And he's taken the time to deliver these messages to Haggai and Zechariah to get his people to continue work on the temple. And right now we're in the middle of Zechariah's night visions. It seems to be. One long night. He'll actually fall asleep and have to be woken up again in Zechariah chapter 4.

1:38But the vision that we're on right now concerns the high priest at the time, Joshua. And you remember, there are two leaders, Zerubbabel and Joshua. Zerubbabel was the governor. He was a descendant of David. He was from the kingly line. And he will be in the genealogy of Jesus in the New Testament. But for right now, he's not coordinated the king. He's not the king of Israel. He's just acting as a governor. And then the other leader is Joshua, the high priest. And since it is a transition time for them, you can imagine this community has come back to the land. It is a time of small things. Nothing looks quite like it did before. The city is still maybe wrecked for the most part. The temple certainly is. And they're wondering: is the Lord really with us? Is he going to be with us like he was before? Were they so wicked before that now he's not with us? Or now that the temple, that nice temple, has been destroyed, is he not going to be with us now? Well, maybe the priest was thinking that as well. And we looked at last time how, yes, Joshua the high priest was guilty. You remember, we'll read it and review that he's standing. Before the Lord, before the angel of the Lord, and he's standing in filthy garments, unfit for the priesthood.

3:08Yet the angel of the Lord is going to command that clean garments be put on him. Let's read it. He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, O Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you. Is not this a brand plucked from the fire? So, of course, God has not forgotten his people, he has not forgotten his city, he's chosen Jerusalem. He's not going to let them be without a high priest. Verse 3: Now Joshua is standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who are standing before him, remove the filthy garments from him. And to him he said, Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.

4:07And I said, remember, this is where the prophet pipes in. I said, Let them put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by. And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua, Thus says the Lord of hosts, if you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my court. And I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. That's really where we stopped last time. Last time we had so much ground to cover because if you remember, this passage is at the near the very end of the Old Testament. And chapter 3 of Zechariah assumes that you know a lot of what's already happened in the Old Testament. It keeps throwing out these phrases as if you already know who they are, like the angel of the Lord that we studied last time. This time we're going to study the branch and other names.

5:03But another thing we looked at last time were the clothes of the high priest. You remember we looked at the book of Exodus when God is giving instructions for how the priest is to be dressed with the ephod and the stones on his shoulders and the stones on his chest and the turban on his head. And so it makes sense that when he starts to put on all these other priestly clothes, that Zechariah, the prophet who's standing there watching this vision, that he knows what comes next because he knows what a priest is supposed to wear. And he says, Let them put a turban on his head. And they do. They put the turban on his head. So God has officially recognized the ministry of Joshua. He has cleansed him as the high priest. He has gotten rid of his filthy garments and put on the clean garments and sanctified him for the priesthood. So yes, Israel, even in this time of small things, they still have a high priest.

6:01Ordained by God. Verse 8. Here's where it takes a turn. This is where we had to stop last time. Verse 8. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign. Behold, I will bring my servant the branch. Okay, so he is, actually, I forgot to pray. Let's pray one more time. Father, as we jump into this text that's hard for us to understand, I pray that you'd give us clarity.

6:41I pray that it would be clear and that we would know what you're communicating to your people at that time, that we could know what we should learn from it as we seek to better understand you and seek to better understand the Old Testament, but also just understand how you interact with your people and your faithfulness to them. So help us, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Verse 8. The original prophecy of what's going on has already passed. He has already said Joshua, he's already set up Joshua's priesthood as sanctified by the Lord. But then he takes a turn. He's saying the people with Joshua sitting in front of him are going to be a sign. So now we have a new sign. Verse 8. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, and you and your friends who sit before you. That's probably priests. For they are men who are a sign. Behold, I will bring my servant the branch. The branch. Now that clearly is assuming you know who the branch is, because all he says is, I'm bringing the branch. And some of us maybe have forgotten who the branch is. So I want us to turn first to Isaiah 4. Isaiah 4.

8:09Of course, in Zechariah, he also does mention the servant. I think that's a little more familiar to many of us. We remember the servant songs and how the suffering servant is paying for sins. Well, in Isaiah, he also introduces this other figure. It's actually the same person, we believe, named the branch. So look at chapter 4, verse 2. In that day, the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious. And the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, for everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem. When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, in smoke, in the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory there will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and a rain. Okay, so this prophecy is given around 700 BC, and it's talking about a time that didn't happen since then, between then and now. There wasn't a time where Israel is back in the land and the Lord is dwelling there in the cloud and the fire. So he's describing this future glorious time, and the person that he says is going to be there is called the branch. That's all we know so far. Look at Isaiah 11, a few pages over to the right.

9:53Isaiah 11, verse 1. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. There's the branch. Verse 2, what is he going to be like? The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear. But with righteousness, He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. Let's keep going. Look at verse 6. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing, this one's crazy, the nursing child shall play over the whole of the cobra. And the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the sea. And in that day, the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples, of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. So, in this future time, that is astoundingly peaceful, so that animals that should be eating each other are just laying next to each other, and even babies are playing with cobras. This astoundingly peaceful time, there is this figure again, the branch. And here he is called the root of Jesse, or in verse 1, a shoot from the stump of Jesse. Who's Jesse?

12:01David's dad, right? And so this branch, we find out now, is from the line of David. So presumably he's ruling as king. And sure enough, you see in verse 4, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. So you see, he's making these kingly decisions. So this branch is going to live on the earth at a time where the whole earth is at peace, even the animals. And the branch is ruling as the son of David, deciding disputes and reigning as king.

12:41Let's keep going. Jeremiah 23. So that was what Isaiah had to say about the branch. Well, Jeremiah is preaching about 130 years later. Jeremiah 23. So the branch has already been introduced to the people of God around the year 700 or maybe a little earlier, 720. But well, now 130 years later, Jeremiah, who is the prophet that sees the exile happen, sees the temple be destroyed, he talks about the branch. Jeremiah 23, let's start in verse 1. Nope, let's start in verse 5. Behold, The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. This is the name by which he will be called. The Lord is our righteousness.

13:56So in this time, the people are going to be dwelling in the land. They're going to be dwelling securely. And this son of David, the branch, is going to be reigning over them. Turn a few more pages to Jeremiah 33. We're almost done with this. Verse 14. Jeremiah 33, verse 14. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise. So this is a promise. God is not going to let this not happen. I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time, I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days, Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name Jesus. By which it will be called, the Lord is our righteousness. For thus says the Lord, David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt sacrifices, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, thus says the Lord, if you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, then also my covenant with David, my servant, may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, in my covenant with the Levitical priests, my ministers. And so he's saying, look, okay, I'll make a deal with you. If you can figure out how to break the covenant with the day and the night, so we all of a sudden stop having day and night, well, then you can, then only then I will break my covenant with David. So what's he saying?

15:57It's not going to happen, right? He is bringing this branch in the line of David. The branch will reign in the land over his people. This is going to happen. His word cannot be broken. So we heard from Isaiah around 700. We hear from Jeremiah around 590. And now back to Zechariah 3. We hear from Zechariah in about 520. So this is about 700. 70 years after Jeremiah. And we hear the same thing. And listen, try and think through this with me. Maybe you heard the prophecy in Isaiah's day.

16:45But now you are in Jeremiah's day. And it's during the reign of the very last king, Zedekiah, and he's wicked. And you know, Jeremiah knows they're about to be taken into Babylon. Okay, but he also has remembered this prophecy of the branch. And you can't help but think that maybe he was thinking, well, did the branch already come or something? What am I missing here? We're on this last king that's about to take to Babylon. He's wicked. What happened in that hundred years? Did we miss the branch? And so God tells Jeremiah again: no, the branch is still going to come. He hasn't come yet. Well, then maybe you get into another, 70 years later, you get into another time of uncertainty. And maybe not, but maybe you get into another time of uncertainty. They're back in the land. They're looking around. They know Zerubbabel is a descendant of David. And they're thinking, is this the branch? Should we coronate him as king? Should he be our king? Is this the one that God has sent?

17:55But now God is telling Joshua in this vision. That know the branch is still yet to come, and God is going to bring him. Okay, so look again, verse 8. Here now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your high friends, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign. Behold, I will bring my servant the branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. Okay, so now we're getting into the question of what is this sign about? He's saying, Behold, I will bring my servant the branch, but he's just said, You and the people sitting around you are a sign about something, about this branch.

18:53Well, how could the priests be a sign about something about this branch? Hold that in the back of your mind. And then verse 9, for behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. So remember, last time we looked at the clothes of the priest, and a lot of believers, a lot of Christians take the stone that we just read about as another figure for the Messiah. He's just talked about the servant, he's just talked about the branch. Now he's talking about the stone. We know the Messiah in different places is called the stone, the cornerstone, things like that. And it won't hurt my feelings if you believe that too. He doesn't tell us what the stone is. But I think that what's going on is they've just dressed the priest. And just like Zechariah knew that next came the turban, and he said, put on a turban, I think another thing they would have been wondering is, where are the stones?

19:59They would have been taken maybe in the exile or something like that. Where are the stones that are supposed to be on the priestly garments? And I think that's what he's saying. It's not stones anymore. He says, verse 9, for behold, on this stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription. You remember the priestly stones? They were commanded to have these two different stones with the names of Israel, and God commanded them to engrave the names of Israel on there. Now he's saying, there is a single stone, and I myself will engrave this. And so it seems to be something like he's saying that he's instituting this new order of a priesthood or something like that. He's instituting something new about the priestly duties, and it has to do with this branch who's going to come, this king who's going to come. They are connected. And I will remove the iniquity. Of this land in a single day. Turn with me to Zechariah 6.

21:14Look down at verse 11. Zechariah 6, 11. Take from them silver and gold and make a crown and set it on the head of Joshua. the son of Jehosadak, the high priest. Okay, so he's just said about Joshua, the high priest, that they are supposed to take a crown and crown the priest. That's unique, right? Let's keep reading about it. Verse 12, and say to him, thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, the man whose name is the branch, for he shall branch out from this place, from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and a council of peace shall be between them both. And the crown shall be in the temple of the Lord as a reminder to these people that we haven't talked about yet. We'll get there in a few weeks. Okay, so he seems to be taking the office of the priest, this high priest, and putting a crown on him.

22:30Interesting, right? He says, verse 15, and those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you, and this shall come to pass if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. So he seems to be taking the crown and putting it on the priest. Well, in Zechariah 3, it seems to be backwards, right? He seems to be taking the king, the branch, and doing something priestly with him, something with that special stone, something that those other priests are a sign about.

23:08Okay, so I know that sounds a little mysterious and maybe a little confusing, but I think if we were to put two and two together, I think what God is sharing here with his people, after he's already said, Joshua, you're the high priest, now he's saying, behold, you're also a sign. Because someday there's going to be this person who comes. And he's going to be that king who's coming, but he's also going to be this priest somehow. Right? Right now, they don't know how that's going to happen, right? Because the kings have to be from the line of Judah. The priests have to be from the line of the Levites. But someday there's going to come somebody who combines those two. And that's pictured here with the branch. Involved in these priestly activities. And then it's pictured later with the priest getting crowned. That someday the office of the king and the office of priest are going to be put together.

24:15And I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, that single day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree. So when we hear about this priest, king who's coming to remove the iniquity of his people in a single day, our first thought is, that happened on the cross. That happened on a single day. He removed the iniquity of everybody. And that's true, right? But the troublesome part with that interpretation is he also says in verse 10, in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree. What do you think that means?

25:07Peace, prosperity, right? Safety. We hear about it in the days of Solomon is the first time this is mentioned, that it's so safe and they're so successful that everyone's inviting their neighbors to come sit under their vine and fig tree. They're just out in the open. Let's turn over to Micah 4. This, another passage, Micah chapter 4, in the minor prophets. Young adults, if you remember when we went through Isaiah, this is going to sound really similar to Isaiah 2, which maybe we read a hundred times. I don't know. It keeps getting referred to, but this is Micah 4. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains. It shall be lifted up above the hills, and peoples shall flow to it. And many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law in the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples and shall decide for strong nations far away. And they shall beat their swords and the plowshares and their spears and the pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore, but they shall sit, every man, under his vine, and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken, for all the peoples walk, each in the name of its God, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. So he is having a prophecy of this future time that. The Lord is showing him, where the mountain of the Lord, Zion, Jerusalem, is actually lifted up. The geography has changed. We'll study about that later in Zechariah. But it's lifted up. It's higher than all the other mountains. And all the people of the world will come because they want to hear what God has to say as he rules in Zion. There are still nations all over the world, but instead of nations being at war, they're at peace because God is reigning in Jerusalem.

27:33And the people, everyone, is sitting under his vine and under his fig tree. So this is a time in the future when this amazing prosperity and peace is coming. I believe that's the time that he's talking about back in Zechariah. You can turn back to Zechariah. He says at the end of verse 9, I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. And then in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree. Now, if we take removing the iniquity in a single day as the cross, and then he's saying, in that day, the people of Israel are all sitting under their vine and fig trees, and it's a glorious time. It doesn't really fit, right? That's not what's happening in Israel at that time.

28:26Turn over to Zechariah chapter 13. Verse actually, Zechariah 12, verse 9 is where we'll start. He's been talking already about how God is going to come and protect his people in Jerusalem. Verse 9, and on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. So there's going to be maybe a big war, and they come against Jerusalem, and God delivers his people. Verse 10, and I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, this is amazing, so that when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. Did you catch what he said there? Isn't that amazing? I'm going to read that again. Verse 10, I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that when they look on me, on him who they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn. So this is a time in the future where God is there protecting his people from all the nations. And they are going to look at him, at him whom they have pierced. And they are going to weep bitterly about it. And it goes through different groups of Israel that will weep. Verse 14. All the families that are left, each by itself, shall weep, is what he's implying there, and their wives by themselves. Chapter 13, verse 1. And on that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

30:35So I took you to several of those places just to show you that he seems to consistently be talking about this future day when things are going to be wonderful in Zion again, that the branch is going to be reigning there and ruling there. And on that single day, he is going to cleanse them from sin when they look on the one that they have already pierced. And they are going to be in mourning about the fact that he is pierced. So back to Zechariah 3.

31:12Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are assigned. Behold, I will bring my servant the branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription. Declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.

31:43So, I hope that you understand that little portion of Scripture a little bit better. I know it's still a little confusing, and we had to go to so many other places to look at all those names and the office of the king and the priest and this one future one who's going to come and bring those together. But I believe that what he's saying is those things all go together. That this person who's coming, this branch who's coming, is also going to act as your priest.

32:11And he is going to be the one that cleanses you from sin in that future day. And in that future day, things are going to be glorious again in Israel as everyone is inviting their friend to come under their vine and fig tree. Okay, so hopefully, you can see how those all kind of connect together. We were going to go ahead and do chapter 4, but instead, what I think we should do is turn to Hebrews chapter 7. Of course, we know who this figure is.

32:58We hear about him elsewhere. The Old Testament that there will be, according to Psalm 110, there will be this son who's coming to rule, who is also going to be a priest of the order of Melchizedek. Another time we hear about a king and a priest in the same person. So look at Hebrews chapter 7, verse 11. Now, if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek rather than the one named after the order of Aaron? So he's talking about that verse in Psalm 110, and he's saying, basically, why would God say that? Why would he appoint someone a priest after the order of Melchizedek if the Levitical priest was just fine?

33:58Why would he do that? Verse 12. For when there's a change in the priesthood, there's necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe. And here's the mystery that we talked about earlier, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it's evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests. Okay, so he's bringing up the issue. How are we going to have this descendant of David from the line of Judah who's also supposed to be a priest? Verse 15. This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, like from the tribe of Levi, that's who your parents are, bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So, what he's saying is, we know a couple things from that verse. Number one, that it's not Levitical descent that's going to matter for this priest who is to come. Instead, what needs to matter is that he's got an indestructible life because he said, you're a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. Verse 18, for on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness, for the law made nothing perfect. But on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath, for those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath. But this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him, The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever. This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds the power of the power. This priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting.

36:15Don't zone out if you did zone out. Verse 26, for it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever. Now, the point in what we are saying is this.

36:57You have to listen when an apostle says that, right? Here's the point. The point in what we are saying is this. We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. Verse 4. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, for when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was a priest. Was instructed by God, saying, See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain. But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old, as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. We'll stop there. But that is certainly something for us to be thankful for tonight, right?

37:55That this one that God promised, this branch that he foretold he did come, and he's not reigning yet as the branch in Jerusalem, like in all those passages that we read. But we do know who he is, and we do know already that his two offices have been combined. That he already is our high priest now, this one from the tribe of Judah. He is the one we need to be our high priest. And since he is a priest forever, we don't constantly need a new high priest, a man high priest on the earth. Instead, we have this branch, this high priest who is for us in the heavens, mediating on our behalf. Consequently, this is back to verse 7, verse 25. He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. What an encouragement for us, right? That he has saved. us to the uttermost if we've believed in him. If you haven't believed in him, do it today.

39:08He can save you to the uttermost. So draw near to God through him. He is our mediator. He is our high priest. And he is the branch who is coming to reign. Pray with me. Father, this was so much for us to learn. But I pray that you would bless the time that we spent together this evening. I pray that you would help us stick these Old Testament passages together as we see the amazing clarity that you spoke with about this branch who was to come from the line of David, who would rule over your kingdom in this time of great prosperity and peace. And that this branch would also have these priestly duties, and that we have gotten to see through the Gospels this figure come and live among us and die on the cross and be raised again and ascend into heaven to be our high priest forever.

40:30I pray, Lord, that this would encourage our faith. I pray that we can know that this high priest does have the power to save to the uttermost. And I pray, Lord, that we would be amazed and awed at the way that these Old Testament passages fit together and how specifically and hundreds of years before Christ came, you prophesied these things and shared them with us. Well, thank you, Father. We pray that you bless the rest of our evening as we fellowship with one another. In Jesus' name, amen.